


Kast

by Ending_To_Begin



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crying, Emotional Constipation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-15 19:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18505237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ending_To_Begin/pseuds/Ending_To_Begin
Summary: Link is very lonely, but Kass has such soft feathers...





	Kast

**Author's Note:**

> Written on Tumblr originally in response to a post (here it is!! http://theot3rulesofhyrule.tumblr.com/post/182316241041/thinking-of-kass-as-a-companion-for-botw-link)
> 
> thought I'd share here too cuz tumblr is pretty well F@#&ed.  
> Not Beta'd tho :P

Hyrule was a lonely place. Most would argue that fact.. especially seeing as everyone in Hyrule knew his name and knew what he had done to save them. Before, when they didn't, in some ways that was easier. Because he didn't have to pretend to feel whole.

Link sighed quietly to himself, letting the sound be carried by the wind off the cliffs and out to sea.

It was peaceful there. No one around to congratulate or stand in awe of him. No one to tell him all the ways they adored him for something he never had a choice in being.

Link brought his fist down on the stone in frustration. Not the first time he'd done so, the sting reverberated it's quiet pain up through the fine bones of his hand. A craftsman's hands… not a fighter's. A climber's.. not a fighter's. A musician's not a… 

…

Hands that had to become a fighter's. The sting hardly bothered him anymore, unable to reach the same intensity of the giant gaping hole in his chest. That stung much worse, and no matter how many times he punched the stone, it never reached far enough to distract him from it. How he wished it would... yet to all the world, he was the stoic, silent hero… perfect and poised in every way, and a true fighter with the fighter's spirit. They never understood how wrong they were…he was just a man too beaten and stuffed and crammed into the box he was 'meant’ for to ever find his way out. They never understood the wrongs they did him by never seeing him any other way.

The sound of flapping brought Link out of his dark thoughts and back to the peaceful seaside cliffs. Well, formerly peaceful. Vaguely he wondered what rito had spotted him and just what fawning he'd have to sit through this time. The rito were always so-

Link blinked up in surprise at Kass's blue feathers as the tall rito came to his side. 

Kass chuckled as he saw the expression on Link's face.

“Hello to you too, my friend. It has been a while.”

Link blinked and gave a bewildered nod. Kass laughed again.

“Ah, you're wondering why I am all the way out here, yes?”

Link said nothing as Kass gave him another smile.

“I came to see my dear friend. Rumor has it the hero has been in a dour mood lately…”

Link stared at the rito, saying nothing and unsure if he felt anything either. Anything other than his surprise, that is.

Kass's smile fell, but he looked on sympathetically.

“May I join you?”

Glancing at the spot next to himself on the rock and back to Kass, Link nodded once. He watched Kass smile again as he shifted to sit down next to him and got comfortable. His feathers ruffled as he did so, making his silhouette grow for a moment before smoothing out.

“Ah… it's so nice out here… thank you.”

Link cast his strange friend a sidelong glance. Kass only laughed again and shook his head.

“It's quite a flight from my village to here. Not terrible by any means, but it does leave an old bird a bit sore.”

Link turned his head away, careful to keep his face blank, though the comment bothered him more than a little. He hadn't asked Kass to come see him.. nor had he asked the rito to worry. 

“Friends worry.. and friends come to the call of those whom share their spirits.”

Link glanced back to Kass, uncertain of what he meant by his words.

“Rumor has it, the hero has been in a dour mood lately,” Kass repeated, “and is in need of a friend.”

Link blinked in silence again before letting out a sigh. He didn't want people doting on the hero. The hero was dead.. his usefulness run out. Obliterated with the last whisper of ganon and his evil minions and corruption. Link, the man left behind, just wanted to be left to his peace.

A heavy wing found it's way onto Link's shoulders and his surprise was real when suddenly he had a face full of warm, downy blue feathers. Kass's chin found it's way onto Link's head and the rito let out his own sigh.

Link didn't dare move for a long while, not even daring to blink as he felt Kass's steady breathing beneath him. When he finally did move, to his own surprise his hands were finding their way through soft feathers and finding a gentle place to grip the softest feathers on Kass's torso. Kass hardly flinched, but did lower his beak for an instant in a gesture Link had seen many a rito do to their children and loved ones. A gentle nip to the feathers, or in his case hair.

For some reason the action sparked something and Link felt a wetness sliding down his cheeks. He was going to turn away, but Kass's wing pulling him closer put his face more firmly into his feathers and warmth.

Link felt it coming, but had no way to stop the sob that work it's way from his chest. And then another, and another that followed. Several more came and in the tears and shakes that followed, Kass held him through all of it. He said nothing, he offered nothing more than his wing and feathers, and yet it was everything he could have given. Everything Link didn't know he needed, but desperately cried in silence for. All his stoicism washed away by a simple gesture of someone seeing him through it.

It was sometime later that Link managed to hiccup the ghost of a laugh, and he felt a pat to his back. While Kass's wing did move for a moment, however, it returned it's weight across Link's shoulders. Link was again bewildered by Kass's actions, but again the rito explained himself.

“We all need a friend once in a while, my dear friend.. a true friend and no bounds or expectations to hold us in regard.”

Link found himself nodding, understanding the gist of what Kass was saying, but he was also beginning to wonder just who had sent the rito his way. It despite the rito friendliness, to have been watched and sent after was slightly embarrassing. It also made the ache currently stuffed with rito feathers pulse slightly within his chest.

Kass's wingtips gently stroked Link's arm.

“You believe Zelda sent me, don't you?” Kass's wingtips were pressing harder, trying to work the tension from Link's arm.

Link gave a single curt nod.

Kass laughed, low and loud. Link could feel it reverberating through Kass's broad chest. It tingled it's way into his fingers as well.

“Ah but that is where you'd be wrong… She cannot see past her own burdens either… only that of our truest companions can…”

Kass's words brought many memories back into Link's mind. Of the many places he had run into the rito, the many messages he had relayed, and the many laughs and kind words he had offered… Kass always seemed to be there. Always seemed to know what to say, even as he was focused and passionate about his craft… and Link, intentionally or no (no at first, but then with growing intention with every encounter) had helped Kass in return. In the end, they had more or less become friends through deed and through simply their time.

Kass, the ever attentive rito had come to understand Link.

All over again Link felt tears come to his eyes.

So many people only saw the hero.. so few saw the reluctant man behind him, doing what he must for the sake of everyone but himself. Kass had seen that man.. and had decided to befriend him.

Link swallowed the lump in his throat loudly, wanting to convey his strange and twisting thoughts, and his gratitude in this strange scenario.

Kass's squeeze to his shoulder seemed to tell him 'I know.’

They stayed like that for a while and watched the sun begin it's slow decline into the sea, Link's gratitude growing with every passing minute and occasionally overflowing from his eyes. Eventually though, they did need to move their stiff joints.

As he was stretching and cracking a few knuckles, Kass offered Link yet another kind smile.

“Shall we be off to my village?” He offered kindly. “There is much enjoyable food to be had, plenty of songs and stories to hear, and a soft place to rest your head.”

Link smiled back. It sounded wonderful… and like a wonderful respite from the loneliness that was Hyrule.

“You are most welcome,” Kass offered with yet another beaming smile, “and welcome to stay as long as you like.”

Link offered one final, curt, but courteous, nod.

 

 


End file.
